129: How to Achieve Your Business Goals with My Signature Podcast Framework
Having a framework for your business is essential to business growth, so it makes sense to have a podcast framework in order to grow your podcast. It’s what I’ve been teaching as a podcast strategist for years and if you follow my framework, you’ll see success with your podcast as well.
As podcasters, we sometimes jump into podcasting without a plan. This causes us to spiral and think that nothing is working and we get discouraged. But I’m here to tell you this doesn’t have to be the case. Planning is essential and putting the foundational pieces into your podcast plan and strategy is so vital.
Today, I want to share with you the key pieces of my signature podcast framework (foundations, purpose, connection, and more!), why following this framework will help you to grow your podcast, and where you can find my framework template and dive deeper into your podcast strategy. It takes a little bit of time and tweaking to get your podcast where it needs to be to support your podcast goals and I’m here to support you along the way. Keep reading for all the podcast strategy tips!
Foundations matter and you can’t skip the basics
Foundations are an incredibly important piece of podcast strategy. I think it's tempting to jump to other steps of podcast strategy because they’re sexier and more exciting, but if you don't pull it back and focus on the beginning, you're not going to be able to make the other stuff really work for you.
Let’s start with research. Where do you fit into the podcast world and how can we improve how you are showing up? See? This is real basic stuff. I'm talking about keyword research and category research and looking at how you’re showing up in the podcast apps. We're trying to decide if this all makes sense. This is something that I've actually been teaching the members in the Strategic Podcast Academy to do because it is really important, especially as your business evolves and your podcast evolves with you, that you go back and look at these things again and again to make sure that you are still hitting the mark in this area. Be sure to also keep your business goals in mind as you’re doing this research.
Why you have to understand your podcast’s purpose and create aligned content with that purpose in mind
The whole point of a podcast strategy is to create a plan for your entire podcast and how it relates to your business. But if we do not take the time to understand what the purpose of your podcast is, then the rest of the plan is not going to matter. It is really, really important to understand your purpose so that you can then create a customer path. This is what we expect people to do after they listen to an episode, how they're going to do it, where they're going to go, what's going to happen after they get there, all that jazz. But without that purpose, we don't know where we want to send them and there will be a disconnect in achieving your goals.
After figuring out our purpose, now we can talk about podcast content. Your content needs to relate to the purpose that you have set for your podcast. It does not make sense to set a goal for your podcast and then not create content that is going to lead customers to the path toward the goal. Remember that content is all about attracting your ideal client and setting you up for success at converting listeners to leads. If you’re drawing a blank about your podcast’s content, I have a swipe kit for you with 3 months’ worth of episode ideas, a podcast planner tool, and so much more.
Why you have to create a connection with your listeners
Connection is all about how you're reaching and connecting with a new audience and your current one. This is where marketing visibility comes into play, and how we're going to engage and retain your audience.
Connection always trips people up because they think it means that they have to start a Facebook group. But when we start diving into what's going on in your business, there is already a piece of connection there that we can use, whether that's a newsletter or being on Instagram, there's usually something that you're doing that is creating connection or could create connection for your listeners.
In episode 97 of my podcast, I talked about why connection is so important and why this is something that we need to be paying attention to. And I think this is actually a really easy piece for business owners, even though it can feel daunting at first. My connection points for my podcast listeners are my Instagram account and my email list, so I make sure to invite and engage my listeners there. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel and add a bunch of stuff to your plate.
Podcast growth is the final piece of the framework and it’s the one we all want
Ask yourself this: Is your podcast set up to gain more listeners and traction and how can we reach new audiences? This is where we dive into actively growing your podcast. But here’s why growth is the final piece: if you're going to work on growing your podcast, but you have not done the research, you have not laid your foundation, you are not creating aligned content that is engaging and keeps listeners coming back for more, you have not figured out your connection pieces, then there's going to be big gaps as you try to grow your podcast. By completing all of those steps first, then by the time we get to the growth piece, it just flows. We’ll create schedules, we’ll talk about marketing, and most importantly, we’ll use what we already have with intention and alignment and this will move us forward right into growth.
Where you can find my signature podcast framework and get started
If you’re reading this and you think, “I need that framework ASAP!” then the best way to get it is to join the Strategic Podcast Academy. There are so many resources inside the academy that are designed to work within this framework and when you join, you get your own framework to help you create your podcast strategy. All of this is laid out in the strategy template, so that you can work through it step by step.
It is possible to achieve your business goals by following the steps in my podcast strategy framework. It just takes a little time, dedication, and being willing to make tweaks as you go. Following the framework will help you grow your business in a meaningful way and that’s my wish for you, my friends.
If you’re looking for a community that will help you with your podcast strategy and grow your business, the Strategic Podcast Academy is the place for you.
Links:
Join the Strategic Podcast Academy!
Check out our services to Launch, Uplevel or Grow your Podcast
Download the FREE Podcast Self-Audit Checklist
Unlock your FREE Podcast Content Kit
Your Signature Framework: Why You Need One + How to Create or Refine One for Your Business (Your Savvy Business Podcast with Heather Crabtree)
Episode 097: My 2023 Podcast Predictions and Why Podcasting is NOT a Dying Industry
Are you ready to start strategizing your podcast and simplifying your marketing? Download our free guide to do your Podcast Audit!
The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
129: How to Achieve Your Business Goals with My Signature Podcast Framework
[00:00:00] Caroline Hull When you start helping people and working with people, you start to see some threads weaving their way through the work that you do and coming together to form something pretty amazing. And that's what's been happening here at Wild Home Podcasting and the Podcast Your Business podcast for the last few years. All of these things that I have been talking about for years since I started podcasting have been weaving and wrapping around and pulling through and creating things that were always there that I had not seen. And I recently heard a podcast by one of my Academy members and dear friend Heather Crabtree, and I'm going to link to the podcast episode in the show notes. She did a podcast episode all about having a framework for your business. And as I'm listening to this episode, I'm thinking to myself, Yeah, I have a framework. I totally have a framework and I do. But we had not really put that framework down. Now, if you've worked with me in a strategy intensive, a launch or a refresh, I have taken you through that framework to make sure that we're moving the podcast in the right direction. And so today I want to talk a little bit about the Podcast Your Business signature framework, why we do what we do and the order that we do them, and maybe give you some ideas on some things that you can work on in your podcast as well.
[00:01:40] Are you ready to start a strategic podcast for your business and share your message in a way that feels wildly authentic? This is the place. Welcome to Podcast Your Business, where each week I share the strategy behind having a podcast that helps grow your business. I'm Caroline Hull, podcast manager, strategist and consultant, and I've seen the power a podcast can have for your business. Let's get started.
[00:02:09] I have been in business for a very long time and I've been working on podcast strategy for a long time as well. And there has always been these steps that we've gone through when we work on strategy. You know, there are some pieces that have to be in place before you can work on other pieces. So if you've sat down with me and an intensive or any kind of strategy call, I always work through these different steps to make sure that we're hitting all the right notes and getting the right things across. And it's funny because it never occurred to me to write them down. Now, when our clients get their action plans that I put together, you can see these phases, these steps coming together in that action plan. And so it just really struck me as I was listening to that podcast episode that I mentioned, that I've been doing this but had never bothered to write it down. I'm really hoping to have Heather on the podcast so we can talk more about frameworks and why they're so important for your business.
[00:03:19] One of the things that I love about having a framework for my business is not only being able to explain exactly what I do, how I do it, and why I do it, but it also really helps with content and understanding the content that you create. In fact, once I created this framework, I went back through the Strategic Podcast Academy, which is our monthly membership, and took all the master classes and categorized them into the framework categories and actually created a spreadsheet. So people can go to that spreadsheet and they can say, I need to work on this phase of my podcast and they can find a master class that covers something in that phase. So it really is incredible how this simple thing that I had but had not fully written down and realized, how I had it but had not actually named it. And so it's really cool to see all the content now that is flowing now that I have created this framework and am working on it.
[00:04:22] So foundations are an incredibly important piece of podcast strategy. I think it's really easy when we come into a podcast strategy session or if we're even looking at our own podcast through an audit to jump to some of the further on steps. But if you don't pull it back and focus on the beginning, focus on the foundations, you're not going to be able to make the other stuff really work for you. So we always start with one, research. Where do you fit into the podcast world and how can we improve how you are showing up? This is like real basic. So I'm talking about keyword research, I'm talking about doing category research. I'm talking about looking at how you are showing up in the apps. This is kind of like the overview. Okay, We're looking at this. We're trying to decide if this all makes sense the way that it is showing up. This is often the piece of podcast strategy that our clients do not see. This is stuff that I do behind the scenes and we do case studies and we do keyword research. And this is something that I've actually been teaching the members in the Strategic Podcast Academy to do because it is really important, especially as your business evolves and your podcast evolves with you, that you go back and look at these things again and again and again and make sure that you are still hitting the mark in this area.
[00:05:57] So we always start with research, and then from there we go into the foundation of your podcast and first impressions. This is like the moment where we sit down and we say, okay, what is the actual purpose of my podcast and how does that relate to my business goals? We really want to understand what the end game is for us and get very specific about it. For some people it's growing their email list. For some people it's getting leads, booking clients, and then for some people it's as simple as growing their visibility, having more downloads, that kind of thing. But how does that relate to what you want to achieve in your business? And so when we really think about that purpose, this is what is going to help us as we move into the other aspects of our podcast strategy. If you skip this part, the rest of it is not going to make sense.
[00:07:04] The whole point of a podcast strategy is that we are creating a plan for your entire podcast and how it relates to your business. But if we do not take the time to understand what the purpose of your podcast is, then the rest of the plan is not going to matter. It is really, really important to understand your purpose so that way you can then create a customer path. This is what we expect people to do after they listen to an episode, how they're going to do it, where they're going to go, what's going to happen after they get there. All of that, right? But without that purpose, we don't know where we want to send them. This may really surprise you, but we do not talk about content until those things are done first. Until research and foundation and first impressions is done.
[00:07:57] Once we've gone through that, now we can talk about content, right? Because your content needs to relate to the purpose that you have set for your podcast. It does not make sense to set a goal for your podcast and then not create content that is going to lead customers to the path toward the goal.
[00:08:20] Did you know that your podcast can be so much more than a hobby? It can be a way for you to attract your ideal client and establish yourself as an authority in your field. But you need a strategy. And that's why we've created the Strategic Podcast Academy, a monthly membership designed to help you build a strategy for your podcast. You can grow your business and get off the content creation hamster wheel. With support from myself and a community of like minded podcasters, you will create a strategic plan for your podcast and start implementing impactful changes. During our time in the monthly membership, we're going to cover topics such as customer path planning, content planning for sales, podcast SEO, creating connection with your listeners, email marketing for your podcast, and so much more. So if you are an online business owner, coach, consultant or service provider, and you're ready to have a podcast that supports your business, then this strategic podcast academy is for you. Head to wildhomepodcasting.com/membership to join today.
[00:09:26] Sometimes it's really hard to visualize and understand this. And one of the things we do in our strategy calls is make sure that we are mapping this out and make sure that we understand the relationship that everything has. And usually when we do that, that's the moment it clicks for people because it can be really hard to, again, like, see, okay, I know that I want to talk about these things on my podcast, but how does it relate to this goal that I have? Nine times out of ten, right, we're creating content because we want to eventually sell something. And that purpose helps us kind of define how we're going to get people to that thing. And so then we're able to backtrack or, yeah, whatever, work backwards and figure out what kind of content is going to lead you there.
[00:10:20] Content is all about attracting your ideal client and setting you up for success at converting listeners to leads. You want to create a schedule that's going to keep your audience engaged and make sure that your episodes are structured so that they can support sales. And if you're listening to this and you're going, Oh my gosh, I don't even know what a piece of content like that would look like, I actually have a free podcast content kit and it is the best place to start. It's just wildhomepodcasting.com/kit, and it'll actually give you three months worth of podcast episode ideas like swipes. You can literally copy and paste and plug in what works better for your business and your services, and that'll help you start to really think about your podcast episodes in more of a How is this going to help me convert listeners kind of way?
[00:11:17] Once we've gone through those three things, now we can actually start talking about, okay, what does this look like once it's running? What does it look like when it's going on? What do I need to do to keep up the growth and to keep up the excitement about my podcast? And so then we talk about connection. This is all about how you're reaching and connecting with a new audience and your current one. And this is when we talk about marketing visibility, how we're going to engage and retain your audience. And if you're following along and you're keeping up, you notice that connection is very much related to foundation. If I did not have my purpose in place and my customer path, it's going to make the connection piece a lot harder. Connection always trips people up because they think it means that they have to start a Facebook group. They have to start something. And usually when we start diving into what's going on in your business, there is already a piece of connection there that we can use. Whether that's a newsletter or being on Instagram, there's usually something that you're doing that is creating connection or could create connection for your listeners. You know, we did a trends episode at the beginning of the year, which I guess we're not that far away from having to do a new Trends episode. And if you go back and listen to that episode, I talk about why connection is so important and why this is something that we need to be paying attention to. And I think this is actually a really easy piece for business owners. It feels really daunting because, you know, how do we I don't know who's listening to my podcasts, How do I get them to do anything right? You know, I don't know who they are, but we want to invite and engage them. And so we talk about that in that connection piece. And it should just become second nature. It should become a part of what you do every day. I have not created anything new to create connection. If you all want to come and talk to me, I invite you to come over on Instagram. You're welcome to direct message me or comment on a post, but that's where my connection lives. And then also my email list. These are things that I already had in place, right? And so understanding how they're going to work with my podcast is really important so I can make sure that I have those connection paths open for my listeners.
[00:13:53] And then the last piece of our framework that we talk about is growth, right? This is the one that we're all interested in. This is the thing that we all want. Is your podcast set up to gain more listeners and traction and how can we reach new audiences? This is definitely related to connection, but it's a little different because now we're talking about actively growing the podcast. Now here's the thing. If you're going to work on growing your podcast, but you have not done the research, you have not laid your foundation, you are not creating aligned content that is engaging and keeps listeners coming back for more, and you have not figured out where your connection pieces, there's going to be gaps as you're growing your podcast. And my goal in doing all of those things before we even talk about growth is that by the time we get to the growth piece, it just flows. We create schedules. We talk about marketing. And you know, marketing is huge for me because your podcast is an amazing content generator, so this is not adding more to your plate. This is using what we have and using it with intention and alignment, right? And so always wrapping it up with growth and like that moving forward piece.
[00:15:20] So this is the framework that I take people through in our strategy intensives, our launches, our refreshes, and everything that we do in the Strategic Podcast Academy, which is my monthly membership revolves around this framework. And this is what I love about this framework. When you do a podcast audit, you can tell pretty quickly which areas of the framework you need to work on. Maybe you've never done any kind of keyword research. And that might be a really good place to start. Or maybe you need to rethink your podcast purpose. Or perhaps your content has been feeling a little stale. You're not retaining your listeners. So how can we freshen that up? Right. Then you're able to look at these different pieces of framework and decide, okay, where am I going to focus my energy right now on my podcast? And you're able to go into the membership. You're able to open up the spreadsheet that has the framework on it and pick a topic to go and watch and engage with and create some action items around. Because we have been working with podcasts for a very long time, over five years, and as we've dove more into podcast strategy, these are the areas that we have seen. If we can focus on these areas, make a plan for them, then we will see impact. For me, the foundation piece and the content was a huge game changer and how my podcast supported my business. You know, I had done the research. I had connection pieces. I was working on growth, but my purpose was not aligned with my business goals and what I wanted to sell. And my content was not aligned either. And my content wasn't really set up to convert listeners to leads. And with just a few tweaks and obviously some consistency and keeping at it and working on my podcast, I was able to book clients directly from my podcast episodes. To me, that's like the ultimate win. You know, for me, the goal of this podcast is to get you all to get on my email list, right? Or come connect with me on Instagram and then I understand where you're supposed to go from there. But when all of those things are in alignment and they work, your people will hear you. They will feel heard. They will feel seen. They will be like, Yes, I need this thing. I need more of what she is talking about. And they're going to want to do the thing that you want them to do, right? And so really not skimping out on any of these and making sure that you're putting some time and effort into all of these framework pieces is super, super important. If you want to grow a podcast that is strategically aligned to your business.
[00:18:19] So if you're listening to this and you're like, Oh my gosh, I need that framework, I need to apply it to what I'm working on, the best way to do that, besides booking a one on one intensive with me is to join the Strategic Podcast Academy. There are so many resources inside the academy that are designed to work within this framework. And in fact, when you come into the academy, you actually get your own framework that you work on throughout your time in the academy and creating your podcast strategy. And these areas are laid out in the strategy template, so that way you can work on them and you're able to go through them. And if you're like, Caroline, I don't want to do it. I want somebody else to do it. We also have services to help you do that. The reason I wanted to share this with you is because I wanted you to hear the steps that you can do to achieve a strategy for your podcast, because it is possible and it just takes a little bit of time, some tweaking, small changes that are going to snowball into bigger changes. And also know that not all of these have to be perfect right now. What I always tell my Academy members is find the thing that you can work on today. Make a tiny movement forward and see how that feels. Because all of these are going to add up to something that really works for your business and is going to help you grow your business in a way that is meaningful and in a way that makes sense for what you want to achieve. So I hope you have a great week. We will be back next week with a really great new episode that you're going to want to tune into. And thank you so much for being here.
[00:20:16] Thank you for listening to Podcast Your Business. For more podcasting tips, follow us on Instagram at wildhomepodcasting. If you're ready to launch up level or grow your podcast, head to wildhomepodcasting.com to get started today.
